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Is Betelgeuse About To Explode?
Forbes ^ | 12/25/2019 | Ethan Siegel

Posted on 12/31/2019 10:26:42 AM PST by jonatron

When you take a look at the stars in the night sky, they generally appear the same regardless of time. Only a small number of stars ever appear to change on human timescales, as most stars burn through their fuel very stably, with almost no variation in their continuous brightness. The few stars that do appear to change are either intrinsically variable, members of multi-star systems, or go through an enormous evolutionary change.

When very massive stars get close to the end of their lives, they start varying by tremendous amounts, and do so with significant irregularity. At a critical moment, most of these stars will run out of the nuclear fuel holding up their cores against collapse, and the resulting implosion leads to a runaway cataclysm: a core-collapse supernova. Could Betelgeuse, whose variability intensified in a novel way over the last few days, be about to explode? Here's what astronomers know so far.

The last time our species witnessed a supernova from within our own galaxy with the naked human eye, the year was 1604. A new point of light in the sky suddenly appeared, brightened, and briefly outshone every single star before slowly fading away. This wasn't the first such event, as prior supernovae had illuminated Earth's skies like this in 1572, 1054, and 1006, among others.

But all of those supernovae occurred from stars that were thousands of light-years away, with Kepler's 1604 explosion being traced back to a stellar remnant located some 20,000 light-years across the Milky Way. Of all the stars we see in the night sky, one bright member stands out as the most fascinating possibility as our galaxy's next supernova: Betelgeuse, one of our sky's 10 brightest stars, located a mere 640 light-years away.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: astronomy; betelgeuse; catastrophism; chat; orion; science; space
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Located at 28degrees of Gemini, on the Left side of Orion (his right Shoulder)
1 posted on 12/31/2019 10:26:42 AM PST by jonatron
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To: jonatron

Well, if it is, then it already has. :)


2 posted on 12/31/2019 10:27:31 AM PST by cuban leaf (The political war playing out in every country now: Globalists vs Nationalists)
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To: jonatron
... ocated a mere 640 light-years away.

So if it explodes today, it will have exploded 640 years ago.

3 posted on 12/31/2019 10:28:23 AM PST by Mr Ramsbotham ("God is a spirit, and man His means of walking on the earth.")
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To: jonatron

I don’t even know what it is. But I DO know it will be blamed on Trump


4 posted on 12/31/2019 10:29:03 AM PST by smvoice (I WILL NOT WEAR THE RIBBON.)
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To: jonatron

I’m pretty sure we can still blame our fossil fuel use for it anyway.


5 posted on 12/31/2019 10:30:27 AM PST by GMMC0987
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To: cuban leaf
Well, if it is, then it already has. :)
That's right, and one of the amazing aspects of astronomy.
Is there any way to know if it's even still there in real time?
6 posted on 12/31/2019 10:31:16 AM PST by jonatron (Land of the Free, Home of the Brave)
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To: jonatron

Don’t say the name three times in a row and it’ll be fine.


7 posted on 12/31/2019 10:31:22 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: jonatron

Some stars just can’t keep their stuff together.


8 posted on 12/31/2019 10:31:28 AM PST by BradyLS (DO NOT FEED THE BEARS!)
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To: jonatron

Not yet.


9 posted on 12/31/2019 10:32:04 AM PST by Liaison (TANSTAAFL)
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To: jonatron

Don’t they mean did Betelgeuse explode 640 years ago?


10 posted on 12/31/2019 10:32:27 AM PST by Savage Beast (Trump's success means their failure. They would rather destroy America than see him succeed.)
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To: jonatron

Someone get grrrrrrrreta on the phone STAT!


11 posted on 12/31/2019 10:32:50 AM PST by rktman ( #My2ndAmend! ----- Enlisted in the Navy in '67 to protect folks rights to strip my rights. WTH?)
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To: cuban leaf

It blowed up real good like.


12 posted on 12/31/2019 10:33:35 AM PST by Bullish (My tagline ran off with another man)
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To: jonatron

“Betelgeuse” —Arabic for “Orion’s armpit.”


13 posted on 12/31/2019 10:33:40 AM PST by Drew68
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To: jonatron
Magnitude of Betelgeuse, starting in 1970
14 posted on 12/31/2019 10:33:52 AM PST by BBQToadRibs
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To: cuban leaf

“Well, if it is, then it already has. :)”

Yep, at 640 light years away, it probably has.


15 posted on 12/31/2019 10:34:01 AM PST by aquila48 (Do not let them make you care!)
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To: jonatron

Hope so. It would be very cool.


16 posted on 12/31/2019 10:34:30 AM PST by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire. Or both.)
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Zaphod is likely responsible.


17 posted on 12/31/2019 10:35:13 AM PST by Rio
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To: jonatron

we’ve seen a few explode since trump won...


18 posted on 12/31/2019 10:35:31 AM PST by heavy metal (relax everyone those aren't earthquakes, just the reverberations of three years of stompy feet)
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To: heavy metal

Be great if they actually exploded...:)


19 posted on 12/31/2019 10:37:17 AM PST by Leep (Many shall be deceived ( by liberals ))
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To: jonatron
"Similar dimming events have occurred before, reducing the brightness of Betelgeuse below even what it currently is at."

Whoever wrote this thing must have slept through grammar class.

20 posted on 12/31/2019 10:39:45 AM PST by Savage Beast (Trump's success means their failure. They would rather destroy America than see him succeed.)
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